BetaDwarf - Official Blog

As some of you are no doubt aware after our Developer Stream last night, we've steadily been working on the backdrop for our games. This was mostly achieved through the use of our free time outside of office hours with contributions from a number of different dwarves, and we're happy that the initial map reveal was met with such enthusiasm. You can find the link for the World Map right here - http://minionmaster.com/map

Today we're also releasing a new Audio Book to tie in with the Battle for Light's Reach Battle Pass, called The Corrupting Will. Check it out right here - https://youtu.be/4q6ThLbjlNU

It's been a lot of fun to see the work we've put our own personal hours into be received as well as it has so far. Thanks to everyone who has been getting engaged so far, and look forward to more exciting lore in the future!

Monday, February 18, 2019

Minion Masters!
It's only two days to go until Season 5 is released into Minion Masters, and we're hard at work at the BetaDwarf offices. Between making sure all our new models are nice and shiny, and that the sound effects are just that right amount of awesome, we've been working a tight ship to make sure the Battle for Light's Reach Battle Pass is one to be remembered.

Looking Animated

With that in mind, it was about time we got some new hands on deck to help with the Animation side of things. Our latest addition to the Dwarf roster specializes in just that, and he's been hard at work on the animations for our final card of the set, Crakgul Doomcleaver. More on that later, but he's also done a bit of work revamping the animations of an old favourite Empyrean unit. In Update 88 the Legionnaires will be having their movement animations updated, to change them from "dudes with swords" to a much more organised military unit. Check it out:

We can't quite reveal what else is being worked on just yet, but we'll hopefully have more juicy animation updates to show off in the future. Stay tuned, Masters!

Dev Stream? No, Dwarf Stream!

With Season 5 right around the corner, it's only appropriate that there be a Developer Stream to cover all of the remaining content that we haven't shown off yet. We're talking emotes, Crakgul Doomcleaver, and we're also talking skins. In fact, here's a little preview of a certain companion dressed up as part of it:

Make sure to be there this Tuesday on our Twitch Stream so you don't miss out!

King Puff Cup 31

The 31st King Puff Cup took place over the weekend! It was a closely fought competition that saw the Top 4 of the Tournament come down to a face off between katt, videogamer77, newcomer Mattie and Xiniu, with Mattie in particular battling through two close sets to get to the Grand Finals. katt once again took the 1st place prize, continuing his undefeated tournament streak and securing himself a $300 SteelSeries Gift Card as well as those juicy KPC points.

In fact, looking at the timetable above, there's only two more King Puff Cup tournaments left in this circuit before the KPI Qualifiers occur! So if you want to be involved in the biggest tournament of the Minion Masters season, you had better start working towards those Circuit Points!

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Minion Masters!
Two weeks ago, we started up the Minion Masters Fanart Contest in order to see the full range of creative potential our community had when it came to artworks. And we're very happy to say that you smashed our expectations! Right up to minutes before the deadline fantastic pieces were being submitted by you all, and the hardest part of this contest for us was deciding who would be taking home the prizes! There was an excellent show of spirit from everyone involved, and watching it develop and pick up the pace over two weeks was an experience we will be sure to remember. We hope it was just as fun for our entrants and spectators, too! But now that the contest is over, there's only one thing left to do, and there can only be three winners of those juicy Ruby prizes.

Honorable Mentions

With the amount of excellent entries we got, however, it would feel unfair if we just limited the winners to only three. As such we picked out four pieces we felt were a cut above the rest that didn't quite make it into our top three.

While a lot of the entries we got during the contest we great, the Honorable Mentions stuck out to us particularly. Int's unique art style on the Disruptor Puff and technical skill certainly impressed, while the Voxel King Puff of DX2and MySmilie's Pixelated Apep were sights to behold. And of course, how could we leave out the level of detail put in to Ludelkri's rendition of Milloween? These are but a few examples of the greatness that was experienced in this contest. If you want to check out all of the entries that were submitted to the contest, drop by our Discord where the contest channel will remain archived for public viewing for the forseeable future!

And the winners are...

Ultimately, however, the quality and care put into these three pieces are what made us designate them as the winners.

But of course, the winner could be none other than Gloom, with his stunningly accurate representation of a real Minion Masters game that had the BetaDwarf Office in stitches when we first saw it. It managed to truly capture the spirit of Minion Masters with its comical nature combined with the masterfully drawn Cleaver and Crossbow Dude and was the solid favourite of our Discord users as well, garnering the most positive Reactions.

We had a ton of fun both running and watching this contest throughout its progression. Keep your eyes peeled for potentially more Minion Masters fan contests in the future!

Monday, February 11, 2019

Minion Master!Guilds are finally in your hands, and we've been loving what you're doing with the feature so far. We've seen lots of creativity with Guild names and the communities around them, and we're eagerly anticipating the feedback we receive going forward. Next up, our fifth Battle Pass; the Battle for Light's Reach is swiftly approaching. We've been steadily revealing what you can expect from it on our Update Website, but we've got some more news for you today. So let's get into it, shall we?

Military Colours

In Update 88, which will be the release of the new Battle Pass, the current Empyrean units will be receiving a visual makeover. The intention of this is to create a more cohesive visual identity for the faction, as some of them still had differing designs from our previous game Forced Showdown, or didn't quite match the style we were looking for. These colour schemes have been adapted to look a bit more like what you've seen so far out of Caeleth Dawnhammer and the Brothers of Light. For now, the most notable of these changes will be to Legionnaires, Warrior and the Spear Throwers. Here's some side by side comparisons of the changes:

(Click on the images for higher resolution)

Look forward to these changes in Update 88, coming next Wednesday! And yes, the Card Art will be updated to match.

Guild Statistics!

As mentioned before, there's been a huge amount of interest from users regarding guilds, and we figured we'd publish some fun stats on the initial weekend (from Thursday to today) about the Guilds feature:

2.5k Guilds active

13,000 Users have joined or made a Guild

33,000 Matches played with at least 1 Guild lobby involved

And keep in mind, this is just the beginning for Guilds! We've got some exciting new Guild-based content coming in the future to reward jolly co-operation with your friends, or maybe even the new ones you find in your Guild.

King Puff Cup 31

The 31st King Puff Cup is happening this weekend! Tune in for high level Minion Masters play with your favourite Casters and players, this Saturday 16th at 1400 UTC on the KPC Twitch Channel. Signups are due to close on this Friday, so you need to enter to ensure you're in the running for prizes such as a $300 SteelSeries Gift Code, a piece of that $600 prize pool. Don't forget to join their Discord or follow their Twitter Account to get all the latest updates as well! And if you want to catch up on previous King Puff Cups, you can watch their Twitch VODs or their Youtube Channel.

That's all for today, Masters. We hope you've enjoyed the Rise of the Howling Moon Battle Pass and are looking forward to the Battle for Light's Reach!

Monday, February 4, 2019

Minion Masters!
Update 87 is just around the corner, and we're finally ready to unveil the big news about an update we haven't been talking all too much about: Guilds are coming to Minion Masters!

Everyone's Invited

That's right, Masters! After many delays we're confident that the first iteration of the Guilds feature is ready to go live to fulfill all of your social Minion Masters needs. This is just the first iteration of Guilds and we expect to add more exciting features to it in the future, but here's what you can expect from the release:

Guilds cost 3000 Gold to make. Joining a Guild is free.

Guilds can have up to 50 members, and can be set as Open, Request Only, or Private, affecting how users can join appropriately.

Guilds can have a region defined in their settings.

You can search for Guilds based on their Name, Region, and Minimum/Maximum amount of members.

Guilds will have their own custom emblem you can make from preset backgrounds and icons.

Your Guild's banner (Emblem + Guild Name) will show underneath your user name in any match you play, regardless of mode. Your Guild will also be shown on the Leaderboard.

Guilds have their own private chat rooms which cannot be accessed by people who aren't members of the Guild.

Guild members come in three ranks: Leader, Officer, and Member.

The Leader is the owner of the guild, and can change the Icon, Description, Region, and Application Status, as well as Promote/Demote and Kick other members of the Guild.

Officers can kick members from the Guild.

Any Guild Member can create an open invitation for a match with fellow Guild Members by clicking the Guild Lobby button, located next to the chat window. You can select between 2v2 Premades, a 2v2 Lobby, Mayhem, and a 1v1 Challenge.

There will be a Special Guild Quest available for a month after the release of Update 87. Win 10 games through Guild Team Battle and net yourself a nice 3000 Gold reward!

You'll notice a tab in the menu saying Guild Pass. Yes, a guild-based progression system is coming! We aren't ready to say too much about it yet, but you should get your best allies together and prepare!

This is, of course, just the beginning for Guilds. We've got more exciting features to bring you and your Minion Masters friends together soon enough!

Shorter Bowstrings, Faster Crossbows

Not only that, but we also have some Balance Changes upcoming in this update. Here's two of them we can reveal early for you:

Crystal Archers will have their range reduced from 12 to 10, but their Attack Delay sped up from 1.5 to 1.1 seconds (Does not affect their overall Attack Speed)

Crossbow Dudes will have their Attack Speed increased from 1.5 to 1.4 seconds.

As you can see, the Crossbow Dudes have refined their reloading techniques, while the Archers are going to have to get a bit more upclose to put out their damage, while still outranging most other Ranged units. But if you want to know all of the Balance Changes, there's only one place to be to get them as soon as possible...

Dwarf Stream!

And that is our own BetaDwarf Developer Stream! We'll have all the details and previews of Guilds and Balance Changes available for you, led by That Sprite. It's the same time (1800 UTC), the same place (http://twitch.tv/playminionmasters) and the same fantastic audience (You!), so make sure to tune in and interact with the Minion Masters Community. We'll also be showing off some of the Minion Masters Fanart Contest submissions with full credit to their artists to share the inspiration among you all. Speaking of which...

Join the Minion Masters Fanart Contest!

We're halfway through our Fanart Contest on the official Discord server, where the winner takes him 5000 Rubies, and two Runner-up prizes of 1000 Rubies. All you have to do is make what you think is the best piece of original Minion Masters fanart possible! To enter, check out the details of the contest right here. The contest ends next Monday, the 11th of February at 0900 UTC. Good luck, Masters, and keep the great submissions coming!